This is what a computer sees when it watches The Matrix
Wired has a writeup on artist Ben Grosser’s visually stimulating project which could shift perspective on watching cinema.
When we think about machine vision, we usually think about it in a human context. We build systems that can recognize faces in our photographs or count the number of cars in a traffic jam. Rare is the computer that’s watching on its own terms. That got artist Ben Grosser wondering: Why not let a computer watch something for its own sake? What would that even look like? To find out, he programmed an artificially intelligent viewer and sent it to the movies.
Grosser let his program loose on scenes from six films, including The Matrix, American Beauty, Inception and 2001: Space Odyssey. The software “uses computer vision algorithms to ‘watch’ for areas of prominence, patterns, colors, and other aspects for each frame of the movie,” he says, identifying them as items of interest and tracking them through a sense.
Some lightweight intelligence algorithms give the computer a measure of agency, letting it pick between, say, a face, a building, a sign, or something interesting in the background. “I choose the clips themselves,” Grosser says, “but after that, the computer takes over and decides what to look at it, how long to look at it, and where it goes next.”
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Select Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: PyCon AU 2024 Talks, New Raspberry Pi Gear Available and More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
